The Prayer of Silence and Light
Author: Martinus Vaicarius (Martin Vaik – Singularity)
www.salvationprayer.eu
Introduction from the Hesychast Tradition
This prayer is created in the light of the spiritual heritage of the Orthodox Fathers and the tradition of hesychasm – holy silence. It is particularly deepened by the teachings of St. Gregory Palamas on God’s energies and essence, the profound contemplations of St. Isaac the Syrian in the silence of the desert, and the spirit of the sacred texts of the Philokalia. The prayer invites us into inner silence, where God speaks to our hearts.
I. Beginning of Prayer – Humble Entrance
O Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit – You who are in eternal love and light – I come before You not with my worthiness, but with Your infinite mercy.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
I am dust and ashes, yet You have created me in Your image. I am broken and have strayed on a thousand paths, yet You have called me back to Your heart.
Do not turn Your face away from me, who have fallen into the depths – for You, who seek the lost and lift up the fallen, are my hope and my salvation.
II. The Unlocking of the Heart’s Silence
Holy and Merciful God,
Let the depth of silence fall into my heart like snow covering a winter forest, softly and quietly. All the words I have spoken, all the thoughts that have filled my mind – like ocean waves that stir the sand at the bottom – let them now settle.
Let me dive below the surface, there where there is only Your Presence and Your Silence. There, where there is no I or other, but only You, Who You Are.
Silent God, who speaks from depth to depth, teach me to listen not with ears, but with soul. Teach me to be, not to do. Teach me to gaze into Your light without trying to grasp or comprehend it.
III. The Kindling of Compassion – The Spirit of Isaac the Syrian
O Source of Love,
Burn in my heart that fire of which St. Isaac spoke – a heart that blazes with love for all creation: for people, birds, animals, even for evil spirits. Let there come into my heart that great compassion which cannot look upon any creature without tears, for in You all are one.
When I see someone’s suffering, let me see Your suffering. When I hear someone’s pain, let me hear the breaking of Your heart. Make me so tender that the world’s hardness no longer turns my heart to stone.
Give me that all-embracing love that knows no borders or distinctions, that does not ask who is worthy and who is not, but loves, because loving is Your nature and Your command.
IV. Prayer of Redeemed Flesh – The Teaching of Palamas
O Creator, Who have taken upon Yourself our flesh in Christ,
I am not ashamed of my body, for You have sanctified it. You breathed the breath of life into dust and made it a living being. You come into the temple of my body, not rejecting its weakness, but transforming it into a vessel of Your Light.
I do not separate my soul from my body, for both are Your creation. I do not despise the earthly, for You Yourself entered the world. I do not flee from nature, for nature is full of Your energy, Your uncreated Light, which illuminates all things, without Your essence ever becoming graspable or investigable.
Let me feel You with my entire being – in soul, spirit, mind, body. Let me pray not only with words, but with the eternal prayer that is my every breath, my every heartbeat, my every moment given to life.
V. The Vision of Light – The Light of Tabor
Holy Trinity,
Show me that Light which the apostles saw on Mount Tabor – light that is not created, but is Your own Light, Your divine energy that flows out from You like the sun that does not exhaust itself.
My eyes are blind, my heart is shadowed, my spirit is in darkness. But Your Light does not need my sight to illuminate – It illuminates even the blind, It shines even into dimness, It penetrates through the most impenetrable.
Purify me, not because I deserve purity, but because You are the Purifier. Illuminate me, not because I understand light, but because You are Light. Transform me, not because I know where I am being transformed, but because You are the Transformer and You know the way.
VI. The Jesus Prayer – The Cry of the Heart
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Let this prayer be like breathing – in and out, ceaseless like the sea that rises and falls, ceaseless like the heart that beats and beats. When I wake, let this prayer be my first thought. When I go to sleep, let it be the last word on my lips. And when I one day cross the border of death, let it be the last cry that rises from my soul.
VII. The Mystery of Unity – All One in Christ
O Christ, Redeemer of all,
You brought not only my salvation, but the salvation of the whole world. In You I am no longer alone – in You I am united with all those who are Yours, and with those who do not yet know that they are Yours.
In You my enemy becomes my brother. In You the stranger becomes my neighbor. In You the lonely one becomes my companion. I do not pray only for myself – I pray together with all creation, which groans and awaits the revelation of redemption.
Let me carry the burdens of others, as You carried our burden. Let me pray for those who cannot pray. Let me love those who do not know they are loved.
VIII. Prayer of Surrender to the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit, Giver of Life and Comforter,
Come and dwell in me – not as a guest, but as Lord. Take my heart, my mind, my will and make them Your temple. For I myself cannot guide myself – I wander on dark roads and always drag myself into the depths.
But You, who led Christ into the wilderness and the apostles at Pentecost, lead me also where I must go. Speak through silence. Guide through darkness. Build me up through decay.
I am the earth, be You the seed. I am the clay, be You the potter. I am dark from night, be You the dawn.
IX. The Deep Turning of Repentance
Merciful Lord,
I see my sin and it seems so great to me that it should crush me. I see how far I am from You and it should drive me to despair. But in the same moment I see Your Cross – and there my sin becomes smaller than Your grace, my fall smaller than Your rising, my death smaller than Your Life.
I do not come to You showing my virtues, for I have none. I come showing my wounds, for only the wounded need a physician. My confession of sin is not the hiding of my shame, but the speaking of truth – truth about myself and truth about You.
You, who did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, call me also. You, who did not come to heal the healthy, but the sick, heal me also. I do not ask whether I am worthy enough – I ask only: is Your grace great enough? And the answer is always: yes.
X. Prayer of Death and Eternity
O Giver of Life, Lord of Eternity,
I do not know when my last hour will come. Perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps after many years. But I know this: every moment is a gift, every breath is Your mercy, every day is a present.
When my time comes to depart from this body and this world, let my heart be filled with quiet trust, not fear or panic. I know that death is only a threshold – a small step from one room to another, from one world to another, from seeing with limitation to seeing face to face.
In that moment, Lord, let Your angel be at my side. Let all that does not correspond to You be burned away from my being. Let my eyes be ready to see You, my heart ready to receive You, my soul ready for eternity.
XI. Thanksgiving and Praise
O God, Most High and Most Near,
How can I thank You? Words are too small, feelings too weak, reason too limited. But I thank You with all that I have:
I thank You for life, which I did not deserve. I thank You for love, which I could not earn. I thank You for redemption, which I did not know to ask for. I thank You for patience, when I erred. I thank You for forbearance, when I fell. I thank You for waiting, when I ran away from You.
Eternal God, You are all that I cannot name, but which my heart knows as a feeling of home. All glory, every praise, all worship be to You – to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – now, always and forever.
XII. End of Prayer – Silence
[Here follows silence. Not empty silence, but filled silence. Silence where words have been spoken and now one waits – waits for God to speak. Silence where the heart listens and the soul opens. Silence that is the deepest form of prayer itself.]
[Stay here. Stand here. Be here. In this Silence and in this Light, which is God’s own Presence.]
Amen. Amen. Amen.
“Let us love silence until the world dies in our hearts.”
– St. Isaac the Syrian
“God is light, and His Light can be seen by those whose hearts are pure.”
– St. Gregory Palamas
“Lord, have mercy!”
– The eternal cry
Autori tutvustus
Martinus Vaicarius (Martin Vaik – Singularity) on teoloog ja vaimulik mõtleja, kelle tööd ühendavad konfessionaalset sügavust ja oikumeenilist dialoogi. Ta on pühendunud kristliku ühtsuse ja kiriku tunnistuse uurimisele mitmekultuurilises maailmas ning juhib teoloogilist platvormi SalvationPrayer.eu.
